Legacy Theatre showing classics to warm the heart

The Legacy Theatre, 101 E. Lawrence Ave., will show two beloved Christmas movies , “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “The Polar Express,” this weekend during an event that is becoming a Springfield holiday tradition.

One film took a generation to become a beloved favorite. The other film is the beloved favorite of a new generation.

The Legacy Theatre will show both movies this weekend when it screens “It’s a Wonderful Life” Friday and “The Polar Express” Saturday in what’s quickly become a tradition at the theater at 101 E. Lawrence Ave.

The past couple of years, the Legacy has shown Christmas favorites on the big screen — even if those favorites originally were intended to be seen on television.

Last year, the Legacy showed several of the 1970s Rankin-Bass TV specials, including “The Year Without a Santa Claus” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” in addition to “Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on 34th Street.” In 2011, the Legacy showed “White Christmas” alongside some of the Rankin-Bass specials and “Wonderful Life.”

“The Polar Express”

* Rated: G

* Run time: 100 minutes

* When: 6 p.m. Saturday, with cocoa served at 5 p.m.

* Advance tickets: $10, available at AtTheLegacy.com or (800) 838-3006.

* Tickets at the door: $15.

The newcomer to this year’s lineup is “The Polar Express,” a 2004 animated film featuring the voices of Tom Hanks, Nona Gaye, Eddie Deezen, Daryl Sabara — and in his final role, Michael Jeter (to whom the movie is dedicated).

“The Polar Express” is about a boy who has his doubts about many things he cannot see — but specifically Santa Claus and the seemingly impossible task of delivering toys to all the girls and boys around the world. (Earth might be tiny compared to, say, Jupiter, but you wouldn’t want to paint it).

The boy takes a trip on a magical train to the North Pole and finds out that having a little faith in the wonder of life can make things far more enjoyable. The film is based on a book by Chris Van Allsburg.

Attendees — kids and adults — are encouraged to wear their pajamas. At 5 p.m., cocoa will be served and kids can participate in a crafts projects. Maybe — just maybe — Santa Claus might visit.

It seems almost quaint now, but in the early 2000s, “motion capture” animation was still pretty new. Other than Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” movies, many people had not seen an animated movie filmed with three-dimensional motion capture techniques.

The process requires actors to wear special bodysuits with sensors on them that record their movements. Then, the characters’ faces and bodies are applied digitally (it’s no accident that the train conductor bears more than a little resemblance to Hanks).

Page 2 of 3 - “The Polar Express” became the first film done entirely in motion capture — or, in the parlance of the Guinness World Records people, “performance capture.” Previously, individual characters or scenes were made with the technique, but “The Polar Express” beginning to end uses the technique.

But aside from that notable technological feat, “The Polar Express” holds the same place in the heart that some people reserve for “A Christmas Story,” or “A Charlie Brown Christmas” or the other film on the Legacy’s weekend lineup.

The weekend begins with a screening of the 1946 Frank Capra film “It’s A Wonderful Life” on Friday, starring (for those who have been living under a rock for the past 67 years) James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore and Henry Travers.

The story has been told a gazillion times, but we’ll repeat it once more. Despite being nominated for five Academy Awards (including best picture), “It’s a Wonderful Life” didn’t exactly set the movie box office on fire. And in the mid-1970s, its copyright was allowed to expire.

That proved fortunate, however, because TV stations didn’t have to pay royalties to broadcast the film … which meant that once upon a time, you could find “It’s a Wonderful Life” on three, seven, 10 channels some years.

These repeated TV broadcasts helped make the movie a treasured American classic — 30 or 40 years late, but a classic nonetheless.

These days, NBC has the exclusive rights to show it on TV. But movie theaters also show the tale of how a despondent small town businessman named George Bailey gets the gift of seeing the enormous impact his life has had just by showing up for work, raising a family and doing all those mundane things we all do each day.

For those who haven’t yet seen “Wonderful” yet, you’ll probably notice the cop and cab driver share names with famous “Sesame Street” characters, and that Alfalfa from the “Our Gang” films found work as a grownup. Also, the hilarious 1991 “Saturday Night Live” sketch introduced by William Shatner with the film’s “alternate ending” will make a LOT more sense after you’ve seen “Wonderful.”

Now, since we’re being paid to be open-minded, we’re not going to jump on the bandwagon of folks saying that a planned “Wonderful” sequel — seriously, it was reported in Variety — is destined to be terrible. Some sequels are better than the originals: “The Godfather: Part II,” “The Dark Knight,” “Toy Story 3.”

Page 3 of 3 - But unless the “Wonderful” sequel somehow contains the phrase “Electric Bugaloo,” stay on the safe side and see the original now while there’s still time.